From its humble beginnings with the theft of a sampler gathering dust in his high school’s music department, through four acclaimed albums and an absurd collision with a litigious wrestler, Dan Snaith’s (aka Caribou) musical life has followed anything but a predictable trajectory.
Dan began recording music in the solitary environs of rural Ontario, Canada when only 14 years old – “Before I could drive, and living in the middle of nowhere in the countryside, there weren’t many options aside from practicing music, playing music and recording music all in complete isolation”, Dan explains “but it wasn’t until the release of his debut album “Start Breaking My Heart” then under the artist name Manitoba – on the UK based Leaf Label that anyone noticed. His debut was praised worldwide as a unique statement in electronic music, fusing hopscotch melodies and filtered electronic sunshine with influences as diverse as the spiritual free jazz of the early 70s, North American indie music of the 90s and the post acid house UK techno.
The first twist in Snaith’s musical narrative came when, having moved to London, UK in late 2001 to pursue a mathematics PhD at Imperial College, University of London, he confounded expectations by creating Up In Flames an album made by the same solitary means as its predecessor – pieced together both of home recordings and samples of obscure records – but which differed spectacularly in result. Up In Flames was an incendiary miasma of psychedelic rock and wall of sound production that belied the cramped confines in which it was recorded. Released by Domino Recording Co. in North America and The Leaf Label in the rest of the world, it took Snaith’s music to new heights of exposure and critical praise.
In late 2004, in the most unexpected turn yet, Caribou was born out of the ashes of a lawsuit enacted by aging punk rocker Handsome “Dick” Manitoba, who sued Snaith for unlawfully using the name Manitoba. Finding himself limited by the high-priced realities of trademark law, Snaith opted to take the high road and change his nom de rock to Caribou.
Once again Caribou’s live incarnation, now a four piece band consisting of Ryan Smith (guitars, keyboards, melodica, percussion), Andy Lloyd (bass, vocals), Brad Weber (drums, glockenspiel) and Dan (vocals, drums, guitars, keyboards, percussion, omnipresent flutophone), will take to the road in euphoric support of this benchmark in Caribou’s development.
May there be many more surprises to come.